Personetics, a global provider of data-driven personalisation solutions, announced it has raised US$85 million from software investment firm Thoma Bravo. The firm will be partnering with Thoma Bravo to leverage the latter’s operational expertise in software and financial technology. The funds will be used to help accelerate Personetics’s momentum, the introduction of new products and technology, and the platform‘s reach to financial institutions and their customers across the globe. Personetics had previously secured a total funding of over US$160 million from Viola Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Nyca Partners and Warburg Pincus last year. The company’s AI-based engagement platform is…
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Mastercard announced a partnership with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to let people use their Mastercard cards to make purchases on the latter’s upcoming non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. This partnership comes on the heels of the company’s recent “Coinbase NFT” launch, a peer-to-peer marketplace for the minting, purchasing, showcasing, and discovering NFTs in October 2021. The duo will be classifying NFTs as “digital goods” in order to make it easier for a broader group of consumers to purchase them, according to a blog post by Coinbase. Additionally, Mastercard will also offer its cybersecurity capabilities to ensure that its customers’ data is protected and…
There has been a 28 percent increase in buy now, pay later (BNPL) transactions from October to December 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, according to global provider of real time digital payment software ACI Worldwide. The data showed that BNPL transactions peaked by more than 43 percent in October as shoppers began their 2021 holiday shopping early. In addition, fraud attempts increased by 14 percent between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday with fraudsters targeting electronic items. According to the data, the value of transactions increased 28 percent in October 2021 compared to October 2020 as concerns of delivery…
Indonesia has more than 65 million Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). This huge number of enterprises has made the MSME sector one of the most important pillars of the Indonesian economy. 13.7 million of those MSMEs have utilised digital technologies in their business activities. Local authorities have worked together with large-scale industries to launch various programs encouraging MSMEs to embrace digitisation. The objective is to increase the digital growth among Indonesian MSMEs and establish a cashless society. The pandemic has restricted social activities and made digital transformation crucial to daily business operations. With this, the role of the marketplace…
Telenor Group announced that it will be selling its 51% stake in digital payment solutions provider Digital Money Myanmar, also known as Wave Money, for US$ 53 million to Yoma MFS Holdings, a subsidiary of Yoma Strategic. This subsidiary is to be funded by a consortium of investors led by Yoma Strategic which remains subject to completion and final funding. When the transaction is concluded, Yoma Strategic will become the largest and controlling shareholder of Wave Money, ensuring that the company continue operations. “This acquisition reinforces Yoma Strategic’s desire to build a strong financial and technology ecosystem in the country over…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Managing Director Ravi Menon has been appointed as the new Chair at the Network for Greening the Financial System’s (NGFS) for a two-year term. Menon succeeds Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, who served as Chair since the establishment of the NGFS in 2017. Meanwhile, Sabine Mauderer who is a Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, will serve as Vice-Chair. The NGFS, which comprises 105 central bank members, has played a role in helping to enhance climate and environmental risk management in the financial industry…
OCBC Bank has begun making goodwill payouts since 8 January 2022 to customers who had fallen prey to the recent SMS phishing scam. To date, more than 30 customers have received them. The payouts to this group of customers are made on goodwill basis after thorough verification, taking into account the circumstances of each case. This scam was particularly aggressive and highly co-ordinated, preying on people’s fear that there was an issue with their bank accounts or credit cards as past cases of SMS phishing scams largely targeted consumers with ‘too good to be true’ deals. OCBC said that its…
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued guidelines which highlighted that Digital Payment Token (DPT) service providers should not promote their services to the general public in Singapore. The services include the buying, selling or facilitating the exchange of DPTs. MAS has consistently warned that trading DPTs is highly risky and not suitable for the general public, as the prices of DPTs are subject to sharp speculative swings. The announcement comes on the heels of MAS’ observation that some DPT service providers have been actively promoting their services through online and physical advertisements or through the provision of physical…
Refinitiv has created a global community for developers in the financial industry. In continuing its longstanding history as a leader of innovation and open tech, the Refinitiv Developer Community offers practical support for today’s business challenges. This community offers enterprise developers access to capabilities, tools, interactive information, learning materials, events and global community. Refinitiv encourages broad, as well as in-depth, engagement with data. To enable efficient work with data we offer guides and insights to navigate Refinitiv API. Some of the Developer Community’s most popular resources are engaging events, blogs and webinars, of which the latter are available on demand.…
Around the world, the fintech industry has been soaring, kept abuzz throughout 2021 with a continuous flow of technological advances, regulatory developments, and investors’ money. Fintech funding smashed records, pushing valuations to new heights. Funding activity was driven by accelerated adoption of digital tools and solutions as nations continued battling the COVID-19 virus and imposed social distancing measures. These elements have shaken up the financial industry, forcing incumbents to embrace new technologies at a fast-pace and fueling growth of young, innovative startups. At the same time, new trends and risks have emerged, pushing financial services companies to stay up-to-date on…
Payment technology platform Global Processing Services (GPS) announced the closing and upsizing of its latest fundraise at over US$400 million. Global investment company Temasek and MissionOG, a US-based growth equity firm, joined the over US$300 million initial round, co-led by growth investors Advent International – through Advent Tech and affiliate Sunley House Capital – and Viking Global Investors. The additional investment and strategic support from the new investors will be used to further accelerate GPS’ growth trajectory. GPS also plans to respond to customer demand by expanding internationally across Europe, APAC and MENA, and accelerate new product and technology developments.…
Global payments network Thunes announced plans to significantly accelerate the expansion of its operations in Greater China, spanning mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. This news follows the recent appointment of Daphne Huang, Senior Vice President for Greater China, who will leverage her deep market expertise to spearhead Thunes’ growth strategy. Taking into consideration China’s flourishing digital economy, Thunes will intensify its focus on building local partnerships with local digital payment leaders to enable businesses and consumers to make faster and cheaper payments to and from China, supporting business payments, global collections, and virtual accounts setup. Thunes will also…
Fintech startup accelerator F10 will partner with Klaytn Foundation to launch an incubation programme in Singapore. The programme aims to support early-stage startups built on Klaytn, a blockchain platform developed by South Korean internet giant Kakao. Klaytn Foundation was set up by Kakao as a non-profit entity to accelerate the sustainable growth of Klaytn blockchain and its ecosystem. The 3-months programme kicks off in April 2022 and will enable entrepreneurs to develop ideas or minimal viable products (MVPs) into scalable businesses. Selected startups for this incubation programme will participate in workshops, receive extensive mentoring, obtain access to an investor network, working…
Cross border payments company Airwallex announced its official launch in Singapore, following its grant of a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and a beta launch in November last year. Singapore businesses will now have access to Airwallex’s suite of global payments services including global account issuance, domestic and cross-border money transfer at market-leading rates, multi-currency wallets, and online payments acceptance. Airwallex’s global customers will also be able to receive funds locally in SGD, making their businesses more accessible to the Singapore market. Other key Airwallex offerings such as multi-currency company and employee cards, spend…
Blockchain technology is not just disruptive but a foundational technology. Without any shadow of a doubt, it will rebuild any industry that it is integrated into from the ground up. Blockchain and gaming are particularly a match made in heaven. Coupled together, blockchain could alleviate some of the legacy gaming industry’s shortcomings, such as ownership of in-game assets and account theft. A blockchain-based identity system will open up gaming metaverses to gamers, supporting the movement of their assets between interoperable gaming ecosystems. Such settings will create new revenue generation avenues. This novel technology will also enhance decentralization and wrestle the…
Mastercard announced that Safdar Khan has been named as its Division President for Southeast Asia. This appointment is an expansion of his former role as Division President, Southeast Asia Emerging Markets. A 15-year veteran of Mastercard, Khan’s previous role saw him building business momentum with an assertive distribution strategy and expanding revenue by growing the company’s services offerings. He will now be responsible for implementing Mastercard’s multi-rail digital payments agenda in 10 Southeast Asian markets and delivering increased value to the company’s stakeholders. During Khan’s tenure as Division President, Southeast Asia Emerging Markets, he was instrumental in launching several firsts…
The metaverse, a concept referring to a shared, immersive virtual environment, has become one of the hottest business trends: tech giants including Facebook, Google and Microsoft have all jumped on the bandwagon, and investors are helping fuel the momentum, having poured more than US$10 billion into related startups in 2021 alone, data from Crunchbase show. Research firm Emergen Research estimates that the market for metaverse technologies, which includes gaming and virtual reality (VR) headsets, reached US$48 billion in 2020 and will grow by more than 40% each year between 2020 and 2027. The frenzy surrounding the metaverse has led to…
Last year, the red hot decentralized finance (DeFi) sector was a prime target for cyber criminals whom managed to siphon billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies from investors, new data from blockchain data platform Chainalysis show. Criminal crypto transactions reached an all-time high in 2021, with illicit addresses receiving a total of US$14 billion, up 79.5% from 2020 at US$7.8 billion. Of that amount, US$2.2 billion were lost to DeFi-related theft, and US$2.8 billion came from so-called “rug pulls.” Rug pulls are a type of crypto scam in which developers build what appear to be legitimate projects before stealing investors’…
Digital asset exchange ECXX announced today that it has graduated from Sandbox Express under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (“MAS”) Fintech Regulatory Sandbox Framework with the Recognised Market Operator(“RMO”) license with effect from 1 January 2022. ECXX successfully entered the MAS Sandbox Express in August 2020. ECXX believes that securitization and trading of securities using blockchain will make alternative investments like private equity, real estate, and other traditionally illiquid assets more accessible and liquid. The digital asset exchange has also applied for a license under the PSA. It is currently operating a digital payment token exchange based on the exemption…
Venture capital (VC) investment in property technology (proptech) reached record levels last year. In H1 2021, VC funding totaled US$9.7 billion, suggesting that 2021 could be the biggest year yet for the growing proptech industry with funding on target to exceed US$20 billion, data from JLL show. In Asia Pacific (APAC), China has so far attracted most of the funding activity, the research found, raising a total of US$16 billion since 2010 out of the US$97 billion poured into the sector globally. Out of China, India, Australia and Singapore are the other principal markets for fundraising in APAC. With the…